HOW TO HELP YOUR CHILD VANQUISH STAGE FEAR?
Would you believe if I said that in my college days I’d tell everyone I’d die before I go on stage? Yet, I’m a seminar leader and a coach today, and am told I am quite a good one at that! I wonder what more I could have done if I’d vanquished my stage fear at a very young age.
Yes, public speaking is one of the most common fears of people. The fear of going wrong, the fear of getting judged keeps adults away from public speaking. What if they had faced their fear as kids? They’d not be nervous anymore! I personally opine that children should be taught public speaking among other things at school. However, rarely are they given such training. So, how do we go about it?
What if I told you that you could help your kids overcome the fear of public speaking? Yes, you heard me right. Here’s what you can do to ensure your child becomes more confident.
Nurture their skills.
What do you think are important traits in public speaking? A confident body language, a charming smile, clear spoken language and most of all, eye contact. What you can do is ask your kids to take up a topic or give them a topic yourself, and make them speak on it. While they speak, you can polish the above mentioned skills, and amend them if they go wrong. Even better, show them how it can be done! Tell them about voice modulation, clarity of language, looking into the eyes of audience and the like. When their skills are honed and they feel confident about what they’re doing, why do you think they’d be afraid?
Help them with their delivery
One of the most important factors of public speaking is being able to deliver the content in the most impactful manner. This delivery comes when the speaker takes the right pauses, knows how to stress on the words that are important, and how to hold the attention of the audience. When you teach your kids such nuances of public speaking, they are bound to feel that they are in a different league altogether, making them more confident. And with confidence, fear eradicates itself.
Make sure you keep it realistic
It’s not like your id has to learn speaking only to go on stage or give a talk. A speaker becomes a good speaker when he become comfortable with his on-stage self. This happens when the style of speech blurs between on-stage and off-stage. It is his natural style that should manifest on the stage. So, ensure their style of speech is natural. You could ask your kid to take care of orders and home deliveries. Or you could ask him/her to keep interacting with people whenever they get a chance. This shall ensure they get comfortable with speaking.
Those who know how to speak well can certainly live well. And public speaking is next level stuff! If your kid is young, now is the right time to get them start public speaking. We have a program specifically designed for kids to grow great public speaking skills and it is called A+ Talks. Here, we train kids on the nuances of public speaking, and at the end of the program, they’d be going
on a grand stage and giving a TED style talk themselves!
Interested? Get in touch!
